'
She forced herself to finish dressing calmly, as he forced himself not
to touch her. But as she tried to walk past him as if he did not exist,
he could contain himself no longer. He seized her by the arms, and both
lost control.
'You can't go to him!' he shouted. 'I won't LET you.'
And his hands were like claws. Then they softened, along with his eyes,
and he all but begged her. 'PLEASE.'
'Take your hands off me!' she cried, breaking free with a terrible
strength of her own. 'Don't you touch me, ever!' He drew back
from her, trembling.
'Haven't you punished me long enough?' he said. 'I am
SORRY. For this. For everything. I am in agony; is that what you
wanted? But I am also afraid for you, mortally afraid. In some things
you are still very naive. You can't see, no one can see, what he
will do to you! But I know the look in his eyes, because I have seen it
before. It stood in front of me in the arena, at no greater distance
than the length of my sword---'
'Shut up!' she screamed. 'You shut up! What do you know about
MEN? You couldn't, because you're barely more than an ape
yourself. Go back to your beloved hill-people, and eat rotten meat in
the dirt!'
But here she paused, remembering her purpose. And through the heat of
the first real hatred she had ever felt for him, came the cold touch of
poise in the act of betrayal, and she knew with a twisted thrill what it
was to surrender to Evil.
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